Making The Rounds
by WishesofImmortality
Summary: Tracy sings of the rounds in I Can Hear the Bells... well, here are the rounds, actually happening. Round 3 up... Is when we kiss inside his car!
1. Chapter 1

**Round One: He'll ask me on a date… Link asks Tracy out for their first date after their life-altering kiss on the Miss Teenage Hairspray Pageant. **

"Hey, Trace! Wait up!" Link Larkin's voice calls from behind her. She stops immediately, feeling her face light up and her heart start to pound.

"Oh, uh, hi, Link," she stammers. Even after their kiss on live television and all the time they had spent together before, she still couldn't control her reaction to him. He was everything she had dreamed of for so long, and now, he was talking to her at school. It didn't seem possible, and she keeps waiting to wake up and find out that it was all a dream.

"Hey, little darlin'. How've you been? It seems like we keep missin' each other," he says, a confused expression on his breath-taking features.

It was true. She had been avoiding him as much as she could – blushing and stammering aren't good ways to make the right impression on a guy she desperately wants, and after that mind-blowing kiss, that's all she was able to do.

"Uh, yeah, I guess so," she winces at the stammer in her voice, and wants to kick herself in her own overly large backside.

Link gives her one of his heart-stopping smiles, and says, "Well, how 'bout we do somethin' 'bout that? After the show on Friday, Corny's havin' a big party at his place to celebrate the show bein' integrated. You wanna come with me?"

Her heart nearly stops beating. Link Larkin just asked her on a _date! _"Come… with… you?" she clarifies, terribly confused.

Link's smile falters unsurely. "Well, yeah," The hurt in his face nearly makes her giggle. Did he really think that she was going to refuse him? She hastens to assure him that she definitely wants to go with him.

"Yes, yes, of course I want to go with you!" she blurts, and her face flushes. That was way too forward. But he had thought that she didn't want to go with him, which was so far off it was practically in China, and, well… she just doesn't know what to say to him. In real life, living her dreams was a lot more difficult.

She was embarrassed to even think about her daydreams now… Link, running up to her, passion in his eyes. Link, sweeping her into his arms and kissing her senseless. Herself, holding his hand and pointing at something in the distance. They all seem so silly now, when it's actually happening.

His smile returns, and he reaches up slowly to brush a piece of hair that had escaped this morning's dose of Ultra-Clutch up into her 'do.

"Cool. I'll swing by your place after rehearsal, and take you home after. That cool?" Link continues to question.

"Of course," she replies, still mystified by this turn of events.

He shoots her one of his trademark 'Link Wink's and mutters, "Cool. See ya at practice," and spins on his heel, starting to run when the school bell signals his tardiness.

She watches him go, a euphoric feeling building in her chest. She was going on a date with Link Larkin!

On her way to class, she begins to dance… bell- hop, bell- hop, turn, shimmy, sway, mash potato, mambo…

Holy Moly! What was she going to wear?


	2. Chapter 2

**Round Two: I'll primp; I won't be late… Tracy gets ready to go out with Link, with a little help from Penny.**

Friday arrives quickly, and she still isn't ready for the party. Rehearsal was in full swing now, which meant she had only a little over two hours to decide what she was wearing, and how she was doing her hair, and what shoes, and if she was wearing make-up…

"Tracy?" Link asks, repeating himself a few times before he's heard.

Her head snaps up, and she blushes yet again when she sees that his eyes are on her. "I'm sorry, my mind was… well, somewhere else, I guess," she tells him, hoping that he doesn't hear the edge of hysteria in her tone.

Link gives her an easy smile, relieved that she wasn't ignoring him. "No worries, doll face. I was just makin' sure we're still on for tonight,"

She nods shyly, looking in his eyes for the first time in a while. The slick, overly-confident Link is gone, replaced with a young man who desperately wants a girl's affection. The new insight gives her the confidence to answer him steadily, "Yup. I can't wait!"

He smiles again… they certainly make quite the pair, grinning like two fools… and touches her arm in farewell.

She glances at the clock bewilderedly, and finds that rehearsal is over, and she still hasn't made any decisions about her attire for tonight.

"Seaweed!" She calls loudly, and a young colored man appears at her side.

"What's up, Trace?" he asks, his teeth looking very white against his dark skin as he smiles.

"Have you seen Penny? I need her help," she entreats, hoping that Penny is outside waiting for her sweetheart.

Seaweed coughs embarrassedly, and nodded. "She's, uh, waitin' outside. In the car,"

She doesn't even have time to smile at his discomfiture before she tears out of the room, knocking things over in her haste.

Penny is sitting in the front seat of Seaweed's beat up old car, a vacant expression on her face.

"Penny!" She exclaims, pulling her best friend out of the car by a pig tail, "Come on! I have a date with Link tonight and I don't know what to wear!"

Penny smiles bemusedly. "Don't worry, I'm sure we can find something in that giant TV star closet of yours,"

She sighs with relief, knowing that Penny is right. She's just being silly. She has plenty of clothes.

They run excitedly to her house, waving goodbye to Seaweed as he stares after Penny sadly.

They make it home with only an hour to get her ready for the big date. Penny heads straight for the closet on the far side of the room.

"How 'bout this?" she asks, holding up a polka-dotted sleeveless dress.

She shakes her head at her friend, inwardly smiling at her friend's short memory. "I wore that for the Miss Teenage Hairspray Pageant, remember?"

Penny winces. "Oh, yeah," her hand dives into the closet again, this time coming out with feetsie pajamas.

"These would be a hit," Penny tells her, a smile on her face.

She glares at her best friend. "This is no time for jokes, Penny Pingleton! I have to be ready in," she checks the clock on the wall, "fifty-five minutes!"

Penny sighs. "I see we've entered the no humor zone," she mumbles, but turns does what she's expected to.

"Ok, ok. Sheesh!" Penny turns back to the closet again, and this time pulls out a red, sparkly, long sleeved dress. The neck is square cut, showing a perfect amount of cleavage, and covering the inches of extra snacking around her middle and arms.

"Perfect!" she squeals, and Penny grins happily.

"What can I say?" she says, "it's a gift!"

Shoes were simple… the red sequined boots from Mr. Pinky's Hefty Hideaway that matched the dress. As she zips them up, Penny starts playing with her hair.

Penny grabs a few hair combs off of the bureau, and, of course, the Ultra-Clutch.

Within minutes, her hair is perfect.

"You're a genius, Penny!" she yells, hugging the pig-tailed girl tightly.

"Tracy? Penny? Are you girls almost done?" Edna's voice floats up the stairs. "I think you should probably eat somethin' before you go, hun. You never know what they're gonna serve at these parties…"

"I'm sure it'll be fine, Ma!" she calls down the stairs.

Penny pulls out her make-up kit, and pulls her big-haired friend down onto the bed.

She obediently closes her eyes so Penny can apply eye shadow and other products to her face, and nearly squeals when the doorbell rings downstairs.

"Let your mom get it," Penny orders, holding her face tightly to finish applying the blush.

"Trace! Link's here!" Edna's voice comes again, and is audible as she asks Link if he's eaten.

She starts to bound down the stairs in her usual fashion, but Penny grabs her arm.

"No!" she hisses. "You have to make an entrance."

She walks slowly down the stairs, hoping she looks elegant.

The look on Link's face is worth it as she proceeds down…. He stares at her like a blind man seeing the sun for the first time.

"You look… amazin', lil' darling'," he tells her, and she feels her face flush.

This evening was going to be perfect.


	3. Chapter 3

**Round Three: Is when we kiss inside his car! Won't go all the way but I'll go pretty far…**

"You ready to hit it, darlin'?" Link asks, his face red and sweating.

She nods, feeling winded. They had danced the night away with Seaweed and Lil' Inez – Penny isn't a councilette, so she wasn't invited – and now, they were totally exhausted.

They head for the door, saying their good-byes. Inez hugs her, and Seaweed claps Link on the back, then heads back onto the dance floor. Apparently, Maybelle is having too much fun with Corny to leave just yet.

Corny catches Link's eye as the couple makes it to the door, grinning like he's in on a secret.

Link opens the car door for her, a perfect gentleman. She's too busy looking at him to notice when she smacks her head off of the roof, but manages to reassure him when he checks to make sure she's all right.

He climbs into the drivers seat, positioning his lithe dancer's legs carefully, as not to touch hers.

He starts the car, still sitting stiffly. She burns with the desire to touch him, but continues to sit still, grappling with what to say to fill the silence.

"Corny sure knows how to host a bash, huh?" she says finally, hoping that she doesn't sound too stupid.

Link flashes her a relieved smile and agrees, "Sure does. I ain't danced that much since I was practicin' for my audition,"

She knows that he's talking about Corny's show, and asks curiously, "How long did you practice for?"

Link shrugs. "At least three hours a day. My parents aren't too happy with the dancin' thing, so I'd do it just to feel free."

She grows silent; wondering what her life would be like if her parents didn't support her in everything she did. "I'm sorry they feel that way," she tells him, examining his expression out of the corner of her eyes.

He shrugs again; clearly uncomfortable with the turn their conversation has taken.

"Well, the party was fun though," he says, changing the subject.

She sighs happily. "Yeah,"

Link seems to take a deep breath to steel himself. "It was great to begin with… but it was even better with you." He says in a rush.

She jumps so far that her already bruised head smacks the roof again. Boys don't say stuff like that, do they? Especially not cool boys like Link. He couldn't have meant that they way she took it. He just couldn't have.

"Trace, say somethin' would ya?" he asks, his voice strangled.

The car stops in her driveway, a light in her mother's window signaling that someone was waiting up for her.

"I liked being with you, too," she says quietly, understanding that he felt the same way that she did.

He takes her in, his eyes drinking her in like a man trapped in the desert looking at water. Worried that it will disappear, but happy beyond comprehension.

"Cool," her responds, like he doesn't quite know what to say.

Suddenly, his face is very close. She can feel his breath mingling with hers, and she leans closer instinctively. They stare into each other's eyes for a long moment, but the cliché isn't noticeable to either of them… she's too busy feeling her anticipation build.

Link brushes her now-limp hair away from her face. He brushes her lips with his ever so gently. It has none of the desperation of their earlier kiss, but it's sweet and devoted. Her arms seem to go around his neck of their own accord, pulling him closer. His hand sweeps up and down her shoulders, and her fingers knot in his hair. It pricks her fingers a little – Ultra-Clutch really does work – but she doesn't even notice after he pulls her even closer, until their bodies are practically one.

They pull back to breathe for a second, and are holding each other again in a blink.

This time, his tongue probes her mouth, and they rejoice in the waves of pleasure plummeting through their bodies.

"My mom's waiting up," she gasps out, and wrenches herself out of his grasp with some difficulty.

"Yeah," Link agrees, panting more heavily than he had been while dancing. "I'll see at school on Monday, right?"

She can't believe that he would doubt it, especially after that kiss.

They part, and she goes inside to face her parents, a dreamy smile on her face and extra spring in her step.

**A/N: I just wanted to thank all of you who reviewed and added me to your alerts. It makes me so happy to see all the notices in my inbox. If you have any questions, or anything, just leave it in a review or PM me, and I'll do the best I can to answer. Thanks for makin' my first Hairspray fic so much fun!**


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